One more player in, one more player out.
Would-be senior Garrett Jefferson requested a release from the Hawaii basketball program, it was confirmed on Saturday, raising the program’s early departure count to three this offseason.
On the same day, sources confirmed UH received a commitment from City College of San Francisco freshman point guard Quincy Smith to play in Manoa starting in the 2013-14 season. The 6-foot, 175-pound Smith has three years of eligibility. Among his other choices were North Texas and Long Island.
Smith averaged 9.1 points, 3.6 assists and 1.7 turnovers on 46 percent shooting from the field, 74.2 percent from the free-throw line and 28.6 percent on 3-pointers for a team that went 31-1. He made 2.3 steals per game and was considered a defensive stopper.
Jefferson also came in with that tag as a junior college player, in 2011. He appeared in all 32 games of the 2012-13 season, making two starts. He was known as one of the team’s best perimeter defenders, but gamely accepted a new role as backup point guard in the 2012 preseason even though he had no prior experience at the position. He finished with 31 assists, 31 turnovers, 20 steals and 1.4 points per game in 9.5 minutes as a junior.
He hit the game-winning floater at the buzzer at home against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 3, one of the bright spots of a 17-15 season. The 6-foot-3 Jefferson, of Los Angeles, was considered a good teammate over the past two seasons.
At the team banquet on April 3, Jefferson talked of returning for his final season. However, in a phone interview on Saturday, he said: "My time at UH was good, I’m just looking forward to getting back home and seeing my family. Being close with them. … I don’t know. It was just hard. I would see my family, but only for a little bit. That was the deciding factor, going home and seeing my family more."
He said he wasn’t sure where he would play next, but wanted to be close to Los Angeles. He’ll have to go to a Division II school if he wants to avoid sitting out a season.
UH coach Gib Arnold released this statement shortly after being asked about Jefferson: "Garrett approached us and explained his desire to find a team where he will be able to play more minutes his final year. Garrett has been one of my most favorite players here at UH. Although he did not play a lot of minutes, he always had a great attitude. He has been an excellent student and teammate and we all hope he has success at his next stop."
In 2010-11 and 2011-12, UH averaged 4.5 scholarship players lost before completion of their eligibility.
Jefferson was on track to graduate, which might mitigate the effect of another early player loss on the team’s APR, the NCAA’s academic ratings figure that will be released later this offseason.
UH’s other early player losses are guard Manroop Clair and swingman Ozren Pavlovic.
